


Remorse Filled Love

by 31082008A



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dumbledore Bashing, Good Lucius, Good Peter, M/M, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Time Travel, Voldernmort bashing, time travel harry potter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 05:20:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28648194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/31082008A/pseuds/31082008A
Summary: What happens if Harry is so broken because of Sirius’S death that he is whisked away to the Marauder’s era? What if Dumbledore is not who he looks likeP.S This isn’t my work it was originally posted on wattpad under the name SlytherinMadHatter.I HAVE permission to post it here.
Relationships: RemusXHarryXSirius, SiriusxRemus, severusxlily - Relationship
Kudos: 52





	1. Chapter 1

The door of the Leaky Cauldron opened with a creek. The place looked in much more better condition. The tables looked less scrappy, the leathers of the chairs were less worn out; even Tom, the owner of the place looked twenty years younger. Everything just looked so different from what he was used to seeing them like, yet it was the same place he has been to so many times.

Harry sat there with a mug of beer in his hand. Right now, his head was full of questions like; how he managed to travel twenty years back; twenty one, to be precise. One moment, he was lying on the cold tiles floor in the Ministry of Magic, and the next moment, he was lying on the snowy street of the lonely side alley of the Leaky Cauldron. His heart was still aching with the thought of Sirius's death. It was his fault. He should never have believed in Voldemort's vision. This thought spiralled into his head again and again as he put his head on the table trying to numb down his throbbing head. He gulped down the rest of the beer in his mouth and picked up the Daily Prophet lying on the wooden table.

Voldemort Rises to Power, Eight Muggleborn Witches and Wizards killed; read the headline of the first page. How many Horcruxes must he have made till now? Harry thought. He decided that he'd need to visit a library soon.

Since he was back in time, Harry had decided, that he could use the time to change certain things. There was quite a list planned in the unconscious part of his brain, but killing Voldemort was the first and the foremost thing he wanted to do. The date was 28th August 1974. For Harry, it meant that it was the start of a new term in Hogwarts within few days. Fortunately, he had enough money with him. While in Hogwarts, he had decided to go on a vacation with his godfathers Sirius and Remus during the term break after his fifth year. But alas, due to his stupid action, not only he had lost his Sirius, but also he has left few innocent people in the grasp of death eaters.

No; it didn't include Ron or Hermione. He had realized this with quite a pain in his heart that they were not his real friends. They were with them just for the sake of killing Voldemort. They have been by his side just because they were told to do so; by Albus Dumbledore. He was worried about the other people he had been within the Ministry of Magic; Neville, Luna, and also Ginny to some extent. He knew that the girl liked him genuinely, but he didn't. Neville and Luna were the two people who had understood him the most throughout his life in Hogwarts.

One would think that Bellatrix had actually killed Sirius Black. But it wasn't the truth. If someone had looked closely enough at the situation for the second time, they would notice that Sirius had actually blocked the killing curse sent by Bellatrix. And due to this busyness, he didn't notice; or should he say that he didn't expect, the curse coming his way from a girl; Hermione Granger. Yes, Sirius Black was killed by his supposed best friend Hermione Granger. The question remains; why. The answer is very simple; to increase his rage against Voldemort. That was the sole reason, they had been by his side for all this year; to make him feel so alone and depressed, that he couldn't think of anything else other than killing off Voldemort.; first his parents, and then his godfather. That would be enough reason for a man to want to kill the person or monster that has caused him so much pain.

It would be wrong if he said that he was excited to go to Hogwarts. He was actually excited to get a library free of cost so that he could research on what Voldemort was up to. He knew that Hogwarts library kept all the records of the Daily Prophet of the last couple of hundred years. He would get enough information there by which he can figure out how many Horcruxes he had managed to make till now. They would just need to figure out what the Horcruxes were. However, Dumbledore may have used him; but the memories he used to share with him always happened to be useful. It was the sole reason he put up with him even after knowing about his theft from his vault.

Harry walked up to the King's Cross station, thinking about the different memories he was shown by Dumbledore, trying to find any reference to the Horcruxes in them.

James, Peter, and Sirius walked toward the train standing near them. They were yet to find Remus. They always had a doubt and fear that he wouldn't show up in the station, and call it a sick. But they were proved wrong every time.

"Hey, Remus—over here," Sirius waved his hand and jumped up and down smiling widely.

"Sirius, stop jumping up and down like a puppy; I can see your tail dancing behind you," James said, looking at Sirius with a bored look.

"Shut up James. It's already a relief that Remus has at least come to board the train." Sirius deadpanned. A smile appeared on his face again, when he saw Remus coming their way.

"We almost thought that you would call a sick again," James said when Remus had walked to them.

"Um, no; I don't think I would do that again. It was the only one time I really got sick." Remus said sheepishly.

"You are alright now, aren't you?" Peter spoke up.

"Yep; absolutely fine," Remus said smiling brightly.

The train gave a loud whistle indicating that it was almost time for them to board the train. As they boarded the train, they started searching for an empty compartment. But apparently, every compartment was full. At last, they found a compartment, where only one boy was sitting; slightly turned towards the window; so that only his back was visible to them.

"See, I told you that every other compartment is full," Remus said.

"Okay, let's sit here," James spoke up.

"Um, excuse me; can we sit here?" Remus asked the boy. But he didn't turn.

"Let it be, Remus; he doesn't care anyway..." Sirius said; and surprisingly enough, the boy snapped around.

He wore round glasses, much like James and had a mop of black hair...wait a minute. Who is the guy; who looked so like James?

They looked at the boy with confused expression and so did the guy. Actually he had a shocked look on his face; with his mouth a bit hanging open.

"Um, c-can we sit here?" Peter asked in his usual squeaky voice.

The boy's face twitched and changed to a disgusted face. But he immediately changed it to a normal one.

He nodded. "Yeah, sure," He said shortly.

They reluctantly came and sat on the other side of the seat. His gaze followed them as they proceeded. Eventually, he fixed his eyes on Sirius.

Sirius frowned as he caught the boy's stare. He raised his eyebrows in question. The boy didn't reply; instead, he blinked a few times and looked away out the window with the same position as before.

"Hello, what's your name?" Remus asked cutting in the silence.

The boy turned and looked back blankly at the boy. "Hello, I'm Harry James Potter, and you are?" he asked casually.

Remus blinked in astonishment. "Your name is Harry James Potter?" he asked.

Harry raised his eyebrows. "I think you heard me." He said nonchalantly.

Remus glanced at the three other boys. "Um, I'm Remus John Lupin." He said with a wry smile.

"I'm Sirius Orion Black," Sirius said putting his nose in the air. Harry gave him an amused look on his tone. Sirius just blinked away.

"Hello, I'm James Fleamont Potter. I actually didn't quite recognize. How do you fit in the Potter family tree?"

"Honestly, I don't know. I have no idea about my parents. I'm an orphan." Harry said with a blank face.

James narrowed his eyes at his tone but chose to ignore it.

"Hello, I'm Peter—"but he was cut off as Harry turned back to the window.

Sirius and James narrowed their eye at Harry. "Don't you think you are being a bit rude?"

Harry turned and gave them a plastic smile. "Oh, you don't have any idea; I can be very rude," Harry said in a breathy voice.

Sirius made a disgusted face. "Definitely a Slytherin," He muttered under his breath.

"Absolutely Black," Harry said silkily, slicing his fingers through the air.

Remus raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Harry smirked at him and nodded. "Intelligent," he said before looking away outside the window.

The train ride went on a feverish silence. The Marauders didn't utter another word to Harry. Even if they talked, they would do it in a hushed tone.

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, were all sitting in the Gryffindor common room; and discussing one and only Harry James Potter.

"What's the problem with this Slytherin Potter? How dare he talk to us like that?" James scowled.

"He's just a smug prat, don't worry about him." Sirius said haughtily.

"But definitely an intelligent one, "Remus said thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" James said indignantly at that implication.

"His choice of words is very intelligent. To relate your prejudiced mentality about the Slytherins and the one way thinking of rest of the Black family, he replied your claim of him being Slytherin by 'Absolutely Black'."Remus replied looking at Sirius.

"Why are you sounding so impressed?"Sirius scowled, not liking the fact that he was in any way similar to his rest of the family.

"I'm impressed with his intelligence Sirius, not him. Stop acting like a petulant child."Remus replied exasperatedly.

"All is well and good, but what is his problem with me? All the way he was either glaring or sneering at me!"Peter said in a confused tone.

"Who cares about his problem? He is worse than Snivellus."James said sneering.

"Then why are we all discussing him? I'm tired so going to bed. Want to join?"Remus said. Without waiting for a reply from the others he just went to his dorms. The rest of the Marauders followed his example.

Next day Severus Snape was walking through the hallways while reading a Defence against the Dark Arts book which he has taken from the library. He has found a very interesting chapter about the Patronuses, so he was not really paying any attention to his surroundings.

"Look Snivellus is doing his homework before joining The Dark Lord."The annoying voice of James Potter rang in his ears, followed by the inevitable laughter of Sirius Black. Next thing he knew his book was flying from his hand towards Potter.

"Potter, give me my book back."Severus sneered. He hated him with all his heart.

"Oh really, you want the book? And why will you even think that I'll follow the order of a greasy git?" James smirked.

Severus was going to reply but was cut off by a hand on his back."Hello Snape. Having problem?" The voice of the new Slytherin boy rang in his ear.

"Hello Potter." Severus replied curtly. He was honestly a little amazed at having a Potter in the Slytherin.

"I see you are having company Snape." Harry said nonchalantly."Hello Black, Potter. Looks like you have taken an interest in Snape's book. Can I have a look too?" Without waiting for an answer he just swished his wand lazily and the book flew into his hand. He opened the book and hummed in acknowledgment. "Good book Snape, thanks for letting me have a look at it." Harry said smiling and handed the book back to him.

James and Sirius were fuming with rage. "What do you think you are doing?" Sirius asked.

"Thinking of getting rid of bullies," Harry said shrugging. "Come on Snape, let's go." He said before walking away. Snape followed him a bit surprised and in a hurry.

"What the hell does he think of himself?" Sirius barked.

"I think it's time we gave him a taste of the Marauders." James said smirking.

Harry just strutted away with a smug look, with a hurrying Snape behind him. Dad, you don't know who you are dealing with.


	2. Getting settled

A week has passed. The days were going on in a better way. Sirius and James’ pranks and bullies were on a hibernating state. They were having their usual classes. Harry had done quite a research about the horcrux. He could relate the murder of Morphine in the shack in Little Hangleton to the Gaunt Ring, as he had seen the ring in the memory of Dumbledore. He already knew about the Riddle’s Diary to be one of the horcruxes; which probably could be in the Malfoy Manor right now, if he trusted the fact that Lucius had the Diary in his own library.

He entered the Great Hall for his breakfast. He instinctively took a few steps towards the Gryffindor Table before he remembered that he was in Slytherin. He pursed his lips and made it to the Slytherin Table. He sat in the far end of the table and served himself with the breakfast. He was eating his breakfast peacefully when a first year Hufflepuff approached him nervously. Harry looked at him in a surprised way, confused as to why he was approaching him. He crouched down so that he was in his eye level.

“Um, you...want something?” Harry asked politely to the boy.

“Uh—I-I j-just wanted t-to give t-this t-to you.” he stuttered and held up his hand. There was a little candy lying on his palm, wrapped in a plastic wrapper.

Harry smiled affectionately. “Then why are you so nervous? Give it to me.” He spread out his hand. The boy timidly put the candy on his palm. “Thank you—uh, sorry, what’s your name?” he asked still smiling.

“Alexander Boot,” the boy replied nervously.

“Thank you Alexander, have a good day.” Harry said getting up on his feet. The boy nodded and ran away.

Harry eyed the candy with suspicious eyes. It looked very familiar; round, pink and had a size of a marble—aha! It was one of the puking pastilles. A smirk appeared on his face. This was definitely not the job of the Hufflepuff. This could only be owned by a prankster; and the most popular prankster of this time was James Potter and Sirius Black. He looked around the Hall, and fixed his eyes on the group of Marauders sitting on the Gryffindor Table. He walked up to them with a polite expression.

“Thanks for the candy, Potter. I know that only one of you could afford this candy.” Harry said smiling.

“What do you mean by that only we can afford them? It merely costs us a Knut.” He said frowning.

“I didn’t mean money, I meant intention. Only a prankster can have an intention of giving away free puking pastilles.” Harry said smiling. He shoved his hands in his pant pockets and walked away.

James and Sirius looked at the retrieving figure with a bewildered expression.

“How did he know about the candy?” Sirius asked.

“This can mean only two things; either he himself is a prankster or he has grown up with pranksters.” Remus said pointing his finger at the back of Harry. “I told you he is intelligent.” He sighed with a slight smile on his face.

“Stop praising him, Remus.” Sirius snapped at him. “James, we need another plan.” He said turning to James again.

James nodded in agreement and turned to his plate. Across the hall Harry was laughing at their disgruntled expressions. When he reached the Slytherin table again Severus Snape approached him.

“What were you talking to that Potter?” Severus asked scowling. He was watching the whole scene play out in front of himself.Firstly he was bewildered by the gentle behaviour he has shown to the Hufflepuff boy, no Slytherin talked to any other houses gently, let alone a Hufflepuff. And then he went to talk to those annoying brats at the Gryffindor table and moreover he was smiling the whole time. What was this boy doing? If he continues like this he will be out casted by the Slytherins.

“Oh nothing, I was just thanking him for the gift he gave me.” Harry said jovially, smiling like an idiot and dare he say affectionately. He was remembering all the pranks the twins did and how they were so happy when he gave his Triwizard winnings to the duo so that they can open their dream joke shop.

“They gifted you? Whatever it is never use them or eat them. They are the most annoying pranksters of the whole Hogwarts.” Snape said warningly.

“Oh don’t worry Snape; they are in for a big competition. I myself grew up with two most devious twins of the world. They are now the owner of a popular joke shop. Those Marauders cannot outrun my experience of years.” Harry said smirking. Moreover I’m the son and godson of three of the four Marauders themselves.

“You enjoy pranks?” Snape asked shocked.

“Of course I like pranks; they can make everyone laugh with the least effort. I just don’t like bullies.” Harry said shrugging.

“Whatever, you seem to have cosy up with those Gryffindors. Slytherins don’t befriend Gryffindors, or any other house for that matter.” Snape informed him. He will not keep his debt for saving him from Black and Potter in the morning.

“I don’t think whoever I talk to or befriend is any of the others business. I will not follow some petty tradition of a house in a school like a lost sheep in a flock of them. I don’t give a damn about what the other Slytherins think. They can very well bite my arse for all I care.” Harry said heatedly. He will never let anyone else manipulate him ever again be it for anything.

Severus just stared at him in shock for some moments before walking away silently. He has surely never met any other Slytherin like Harry Potter before and he was not sure what to think of it.

Lucius Abraxas Malfoy was considered the Slytherin Prince. He was a Malfoy after all. Everyone knew the power of the Malfoy family in the politics of the wizarding world. Every other pureblood family wanted to win the allegiance or favour of the Malfoy family. Only other family that was anywhere near powerful like his family were the Blacks.There was no Black male in his year. The only Blacks he knew in Hogwarts were Bellatrix Black; she was in her last year here, then there was Regulus Black; he was only in his second year, he was four years younger than him. And the last one he knows is Sirius Black, who was in his fourth year but was a Gryffindor. Lucius knew it was only the matter of time until he is disowned by the House of Black. So he was the current leader of the Slytherin house. The new addition to their house was in its own right an oddity; he has never heard of a Potter being sorted into the Slytherin house. And now he seems to be warming up with those Gryffindors. He needs to be shown the Slytherin tradition. He will not let some Potter break the long known Slytherin tradition.

“Snape, tell Potter I want to talk to him.” Lucius said with his chin up in air.

Severus just nodded, being well known to the Slytherin tradition he knew the place the Malfoy holds. He went to Potter to call him. He very well knew what Malfoy was going to talk to him. He has watched Malfoy listening to his conversation with Potter with barely concealed interest.

Harry was sitting at the corner of the common room doing his home work. He has always detested crowds. He liked peace and moreover he had a lot of things in his plate at the moment. He has planned on becoming an animagus for he realized it would be very much useful in his hunt for the horcruxes. He after all needed to be very well hidden from Dumbledore. The last thing he wanted was Dumbledore suspecting him or worst knowing his plans. He was lost in his own thoughts when someone shook him from his reverie. He looked up to see Snape looking at him in a businesslike manner. He had to suppress his snort at similarity of the face he knew quite well in the future.

“What’s the matter?” He asked.

“Lucius Malfoy is calling you.” Snape replied stiffly.

“Are you his messenger? If he wants to talk to me he could have come on his own legs to me. Why are you calling me?” Harry asked surprised that he will take orders from Lucius Malfoy of all people.

“You don’t know anything about this House’s tradition. He is the leader of this house.”Snape said indignantly.

Harry raised his eyebrows. “And he’s the one who’s going to teach me the tradition?” he asked sceptically.

Snape nodded. “Yes, now you better go and listen to what he has to say. He doesn’t like to wait.” He said peering at the impatiently sitting Lucius.

Harry craned his neck to see where he was looking. He pursed his lips when he saw that it was Lucius. “Um, Malfoy, can you come here please?” he called. Severus’ mouth went unhinged despite him trying otherwise.

Lucius looked in the direction from where his name was being called. He frowned when he saw that it was the same person he had said Severus to call for him. Impatiently enough, he stood up, and walked to Harry. “What is it? As per as I remember I called for you.” he said when he reached Harry.

“Actually yes, you called for me. And now when you are already here, I think you should just state whatever you wanted from me.” Harry said with a bored look.

Lucius gave his famous Malfoy sneer. “You should have come to me as I have called you, not the other way round.” He said irritated.

“Well, as you can see, I have works to do. But when I saw you, you were just sitting around. So, I thought you could use stretching out your legs a bit.” Harry said smiling.

Lucius huffed and plopped down aristocratically on a nearby couch. Harry looked amazed, how can someone plop down aristocratically; much to the resemblance to his son. “Listen Potter, you are new in here. You don’t seem to know any of our traditions. You can’t just barge in here and change everything. Since, you are also a member of this house, you have to follow the traditions that everybody have been following for so many years. We Slytherin, don’t just go and shake hands with anyone; Gryffindor, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. We look after a lot of things before even greeting them. Now, if you stay with me, I can help pick up some pureblood families to make friends with.” Lucius said with his nose high up in the air.

Harry looked at him for a moment with his mouth a bit open. Then he outright snorted at him. “Obviously, yeah...I was kind of waiting for it, you know. The time you’ll ask me to be friends with you so that you can help me with picking up right friends and all...” Harry shook his head in irony. Like father like son...

“What?” Lucius asked perplexed.

“Nothing,” Harry shook his head again. “It’s just I don’t want your help Malfoy. I’m old enough to pick up my friends on my own. Thanks a lot for your offer, but I really don’t need your help. Because you know, I can tell the wrong sort of myself. And I seriously don’t have the time to know everybody’s blood status and house before going to talk to them. I find it to be highly unnecessary.” Harry said with a smile on his face as usual.

Lucius had a blank look on his face, which Harry knew far too well to be a spiteful look. He knew that the history was repeating itself, but in a better way. Lucius didn’t say anything more; he just got up from his seat and went away. Harry knew far too well that Lucius has not let the matters rest. He just wanted to see what will be the outcome of his outright refusal to follow their leader’s order.

“What did you do? You will surely be out casted from the Slytherins.” Severus said exasperated.

“Why should I be concerned about that?” Harry asked nonchalantly.

“Are you that stupid that can’t understand the implications of being out casted?” Severus was getting annoyed with the boy now.

“No, I know very well what it means to be out casted. I just don’t consider it requiring my time and concern. I don’t need some stupid followers in my life. I have always stood out of the crowd, be it in a positive way or in a negative. I don’t need anyone’s favour to survive.” Harry said darkly.

Severus was now becoming wary of the new kid. He wasn’t afraid of anything. He was nothing like the other Slytherins he has met till date. He will be keeping a close eye on him from now on, out casted or not.


	3. Outcasted

The next day onwards, he was treated as had expected after the heated conversation with the supposed Slytherin Prince. Nobody in the house talked with him. Everybody sneered at him whenever he was near someone. But to his own amusement, he was enjoying the immature behaviour of the people around him. And honestly, he preferred to be shunned in front of everybody rather than being backstabbed by some supposed best friend. Nonetheless, he enjoyed and utilised the alone time he got, by spending it in the library, researching about the murders and crimes of Voldemort to get a further hint about his Horcruxes. He had the twenty years old affairs related to Voldemort open in front of him in the library table. The one he was looking at now, was a mysterious murder, which was committed years before Voldemort had rose to power. She was a witch named Smith, and very suspiciously, no money had been stolen from her. On further reading about the article, he deduced that only two things were missing from her house; the Helga Hufflepuff cup and the Slytherin locket, which were in her possession at the time.

Harry needn’t to be told twice that they were currently two other Horcruxes of Voldemort. Till now, he had found out about five horcruxes; the Gaunt ring, the Hufflepuff cup, the Slytherin locket, and he himself. He had discovered the fact that he’s a horcrux, last year, when he had been able to look inside Voldemort’s brain. He accepted that he was a Legillimens, but he didn’t think himself to be such a good one that he could look inside Voldemort’s head. He had to do his part of research to know that. He had accepted that he will have to die. But before that, he will make sure that he is able to take Voldemort with him and throw him into Hell.

“I’ll not let you live so happily dear...You are going to have a hard life ahead...” Harry muttered to himself before taking his wand out and waving it lazily to pack up the files and put them away in the rack.

“What are you researching upon, Potter?” a voice asked from behind. Harry jumped around to find James, Remus, Peter and Sirius standing there.

Harry rolled his eyes. “Couldn’t you have been a bit expected? I mean, you could have made a bit of sound as a precaution that someone’s present over here.” He said putting the files away.

“No, how could we be? We needed to sneak on Harry Potter; had to be a bit unheard.” James said with a smug look.

“What were you doing anyway?” Sirius asked.

“Checking on Voldemort’s achievements; he has quite a long list of records.” Harry said shrugging.

James, Remus and Sirius fixed their gazes on the boy standing in front of them standing so nonchalantly. That was the only guy they had seen who had the audacity to speak his name. But Peter instantly flinched.

Harry raised his eyebrows at Peter. “How brave of you Pettigrew; true Gryffindor.” He said shaking his head.  
“What are you talking about?” Peter asked a bit nervously.  
“What are you, scared of the name Voldemort? Don’t worry; he’s not present here to bite your scarred arse.” Harry said smiling.

Peter flinched yet again. Harry flattened his lips at his persistency and rolled his eyes.

“You are not afraid of him?” Remus asked with raised eyebrow.

“Nah, he’s my distant cousin, so...you know, I will be doomed if I’m afraid of my own cousin.” Harry said in an amused tone.

They all looked at him bewildered. “Cousin?” they asked aloud together.

Harry shrugged. “I have heard that the Potters and the Gaunts are related to each other from the Peverell line.” He said.

James nodded. “I see that you know many things about the Potters. Yet you don’t know your parent’s name?” he asked raising his eyebrows in taunt.

“I have tried to find my name quite a few times in the Potter family tree. I don’t know whether the ones I got were accurate or no, but I never got my name there. So now are you satisfied with this answer, or should I make an effort to make out another excuse?” Harry said jerking his shoulders.

“You really don’t know who your parents are?” Remus asked.

Harry rolled his eyes. “Mo—Lupin, I guess it’s very rude to ask an orphan about their parents repeatedly.” Harry said, quite aware of his accidental slip.

James, Remus, Peter and Sirius looked at him with wide eyes. They had definitely caught his slip. “What were you about to call him?” Sirius asked carefully.

Harry shrugged. “Whatever you think to quench you suspicion.” He said before walking out of the library.

Remus definitely caught this as a confirmation that he had full knowledge about their Animagus forms and in his case, about his condition. “He knows James. He knows all about us; I can smell that in his tone.” Remus said with fearful eyes.

“But how; how does he know about us? Who would tell him? And it’s not like anybody else knows about us.” James said in a frustrated tone.

“What if he tells the whole school about us? We’ll all be expelled; especially me.” Remus said in a shaky voice.

“Remus, we won’t let him tell anything about us. I and Sirius will look after that.” He said assuring, putting a hand on his shoulder; even though he himself was getting a bit nervous.

“Don’t worry, Remus; we’ll be together wherever we go; expelled or not.” Sirius said smiling.

Remus gave them a sad smile. He was happy to have such great friends with him.  
But the thing they didn’t notice was a silhouette at the door of the library standing and smiling affectionately at their conversation. He had tears in his eyes. He reached out for his pocket and took out a chocolate frog. He kept the packet on the nearest table available, and left the room wiping away the unshed tears from his eyes.

The next day, the Marauders were walking down a deserted hallway. They were just thinking about a way to catch hold of the other Potter, when they heard hushed bickering from the other end of the hallway. They heard some sick thuds, when they ran to the direction of the sound.

“You are an abomination to the Slytherin House. You insult us with your presence.” A boy’s voice said.

“You don’t deserve to be in Slytherin; bloody Gryffindor lover.” Another voice spoke up.

When they reached the spot, they saw that almost five to seven students were encircled around another figure, which was lying on the floor all curled up and bloody. All of them were Slytherins, from their robes.

“Hey, what are you doing to him?” Sirius called up.

They all looked up and rolled their eyes.  
“Look your friends have come to rescue you...bloody scrap.” One of the boys said and kicked the lying figure again.

As though a gesture, they all followed him and started kicking him.

“Hey, I said stop it!” James shouted. They didn’t seem to hear him.

“Stop hitting the boy, or I’m calling Dumbledore right now.” Remus said.

They all stopped at the mention of the name of the Headmaster. The boys looked at the Marauders and gave their ugly scowl before strutting away leaving the guy alone.

The boys hesitated for a moment before reaching the curled up guy. They were shocked to see that even the boy was Slytherin.

“Are you fine?” Remus asked kneeling down beside him.

The boy rolled to his back. The Marauders gave a gasp as they saw who the boy was.

“You,” James asked.

Harry gave a breathy laugh. “I’m super cool; but please don’t call Dumbledore.” He said smiling.

Remus took in the injuries on his face. His lips were bleeding, his forehead had a deep gash and his cheeks and eyes had turned blue. Sirius crouched down next to him too.

“Are you crazy? What were you doing with them?” he asked as he checked the injuries himself.

“Anything but trying to pull their legs,” Harry said trying to get up.

As he tried to stand up, his legs gave in and he stumbled towards the wall. Sirius and Remus immediately caught him from both sides.

“Um, it is okay, I can walk.” Harry said nervously.

“Yeah, we can see that.” Remus said keeping his hold on the small boy.

“Why were they beating you?” James asked from behind them. Harry looked at the tall man standing behind him. He smiled.

“Slytherins don’t reveal their secrets to everybody.” he said playfully.

James rolled his eyes. “You need to go to the hospital.”

Harry’s eyes instantly went blank. His gaze averted to the floor. Suddenly, he pulled away from the grasp of the two Gryffindors and stood straight, without any difficulty. “I’m fine; thank you.” he said before walking away. Surprisingly, he walked as though he just got up from his bed after a good night sleep.

“Potter, wait, we need to—“James started, but he was already out of sight.

“What happened to him?” Peter spoke up.

James looked at him with a slight opened mouth. He blinked a few times and said, “Peter, later; not now.”

He shut his mouth with a snap and looked away as though aware that he just sounded too stupid to belong in the Marauder’s group.

“Something is definitely up between the other Slytherins and him. Either they are just bullying him, or they must have out casted him.” Sirius said.

“He’s been out casted; without a doubt. They didn’t like the fact that he talked with us smiling. They obviously didn’t know what he was actually saying, so they thought that he was being friendly with us.” Remus stated.

“But, why didn’t he go to the Hospital? They have beaten him black and blue. He didn’t even look injured after we mentioned hospital.” Sirius asked confusingly.

Remus pursed his lips. “He’s hiding a lot of things from the world. We need to know about him as soon as possible.”

They all nodded in agreement and walked away to the way Harry had gone.

The Marauders were walking through the hallways when they heard three voices talking in there. As they rounded the corner they saw that it was the same boy that was beaten a few minutes ago along with Snivellus and another Gryffindor Lily Evans.

“What happened to your face?” Lily asked with concern.

“Oh it’s nothing Evans; a flock of deranged sheep just trampled me. Nothing I can’t handle. Their keeper must have fed them less or have not given them proper attention. So they went somewhat berserk.” Harry said in his usual calm tone with a smile plastered on his face.

James, Sirius, Peter and Remus have to control themselves from laughing out loudly at the comparison with great difficulty. They have never seen any Slytherin who can be so openly humorous and cheerful. Moreover he seems to not care that Lily is a muggle-born.

Severus just eyed the condition of the boy with cautious eyes. Being a Slytherin he knew the art of hiding emotions under a false facade. He can tell that the boy was in a lot of pain, but then also he never seems to care about the traditions. He has very much caught the reference of sheep and keeper and understood its meaning.

“You should give a visit to the hospital.” Severus said cautiously after looking around to ensure that no other Slytherin was nearby.

“Snape, never bother me. I’ve grown up to take care of myself efficiently. Orphanages cannot afford medications every time and I also had my fair share of encounters with bullies. And try to be more cautious before talking to me next time, you never know when someone is under a disillusionment charms. I happen to know a woman whose animagus form is a red beetle. So......, “Harry said smirking.

Severus’ eyes grew wide at those possibilities. Before he could say any other thing, Harry has started walking away.

“What was he saying?”Lily asked. She was eyeing the boy with bewilderment. The boy looked so much like James Potter but was totally different from him in every other ways.

“I don’t know. I just remembered something important, I have to go now. Bye Lily.” Severus said. He walked away in an abrupt high speed.

Lily looked at the direction in confusion. “What happened to him?” she asked to herself.


	4. Saving old, creating new

James had taken enough control over himself for the day. He stood there fidgeting impatiently and waited as to when the other two boys will leave Lily alone. As soon as Severus left the place, James jumped in front of the girl.

“Hello Evans, how’s your day going?” he asked grinning from ear to ear.  
Lily jumped in surprise. When she saw that it was only the annoying bully, she rolled her eyes boringly.

“What do you want, Potter?” she said checking her nails.

“As always, just to talk to you.” James said smirking.

Lily eyed the boy in front of him carefully; and her gaze shifted to the whole lot of group. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

“Remus, were you the people who had beaten up the Slytherin guy so badly?” she asked looking at Remus.

Remus made a face. “What; absolutely not! Why would we beat someone up so badly?” he said bewildered.

“Evans, we may try to have a bit of fun with Snivellus, but we are not hooligans like the Slytherin, that we’ll beat someone up so badly.” James said rolling his eyes.

“Slytherin Potter was beaten up by his own house mate. We suspect that he is out casted because of talking to us openly; though he wasn’t at all trying to be friendly with us.” Sirius said in a nonchalant tone.

Lily rolled her eyes, yet again. “I would be amazed if he actually tried to be friendly with you all. And when the hell are you all going to come off of your prejudices? All Slytherins are not bad; there are exceptions in every group. Like Severus and—that boy.” She made a face as she realized that she had forgotten to ask him his name.

James’s lips twitched to his sides at the praise of the boy. “Evans, try making Gryffindor friends. It’ll be easier for you.” he said in a heavy tone.

Lily raised her eyebrows at his tone. “Yeah; and whom should I choose from Gryffindor to be my friend?” she asked eyeing him.

James grinned ear to ear again. “Me—us, we can be your friends; like best friends.” he said grinning.

Lily nodded sarcastically. “Yeah right; and then I think I should jump from the Astronomy Tower in shame of your actions.” She said waving her hand dismissively.

“Come off it, James,” Remus said putting a hand on a pouting James’s back.

Lily sighed. “I have classes to attend, so bye.” She said before walking away.

Harry was lying on his bed in a fitful position. His whole body was paining from the beating of the day before. He couldn’t go to the Hospital as he didn’t want anybody to see his wrecked body by the Dursley’s. He didn’t have time and energy to make up new stories in order to back up his scars. So he chose to skip breakfast for today and take an extra hour of rest.

As he got up after half an hour to get ready for his classes, he found it very difficult to move his legs. But he couldn’t miss classes as it may attract attention. As he had taken admission in fourth year to save him from the academic attention; so he could concentrate on his Horcrux hunting. So technically, he was a year elder than James in the current situation. He had tried finding more related information about horcruxes. But he didn’t find any other suspected murder that has occurred in the town lately. So he had settled on the idea that till now, Voldemort had managed to make only five Horcruxes. He had a suspicion that he would find the Gaunts ring in the shack in Little Hangleton itself. Dumbledore had once shown him the picture of the Shack and another cave. He was sure that the cave held another horcrux. He would have to make it faster as to avoid any more horcrux.

Harry walked down the hallway, to get to his classes, when he heard loud laughing noises outside the castle. He peeped through the large windows of the castle and saw that James and his gang were levitating Severus on a tree. He instantly remembered the scene and ran outside. As he reached their, he saw Lily coming from the opposite direction. He ran with difficulty to the tree and took out his wand. As James was about to release Severus from the height, he caught him with his own magic, and slowly put him down on the  
ground on his feet.

Severus had a sneer on his face and he glared at James and his group. When he looked at Harry, he was looking behind him. Severus turned to see Lily coming his way. As though on fire, he ran towards the castle out of sight. Harry sighed in relief as he had just saved Lily and Severus’s friendship from being destroyed for life.

“What is your problem boy? Why do you always interfere in whatever we do?” Sirius asked pushing Harry a bit on his shoulder.

Harry winced; both in pain and anguish that his Godfather was calling him like the Dursley’s. He looked him in his eyes. His perfect emerald green eyes piercing into Sirius’ black eyes.

“Leave me alone.” He said a bit darkly.  
Sirius could see the pain in his eyes. He stared at them for a minute.

“Potter, you better stay away from us and away from whatever we do. It’s none of your business what we do to that greasy git.” James said making Sirius snap out of his gaze.

“If you want to be friends with him, you can do it in your dorm. Stop coming in between Snape and them.” Peter said from behind James. He tried to make something out of the situation as he had been the one to face the new boy’s sneers.

Harry’s gaze shifted to the shorter boy behind his future father. He eyed him from the tip of his hair to his toe. “Filthy rat...” he muttered under his breath before he started to walk away.

“What did you say?” James called from behind him agitated that a stranger just called his best friend some vile thing.

But Harry didn’t turn around. Tears were pricking his eyes, as he the images of the night in the Ministry floated in front of his eyes. The death eater, the prophecy, Hermione’s killing curse, and Sirius’ death...everything...even the Dursley’s torturing him. His vision was getting darker and darker; his feet were feeling weaker by the moment. But he didn’t stop. He walked until he could no longer feel his feet or see a thing in front of him. He just remembered falling on the soft snow with a thud; and then everything went black.

James, Sirius, Remus and Peter kept glaring at his back for calling Peter what he had called. Yes they have heard quite clearly that he had called him a rat. They were confused as to how the boy knows so much about them.

“Hey, look, he just fell...” Remus said pointing at the lying figure on the ground.

“Let him be, I don’t care.” James said still glowering at the figure.

“James, don’t act so immature. You were the one bullying Severus. And the boy must need help. Let’s go...” Remus said before running to the figure.

James, Sirius and Peter be grudgingly followed him to the Hospital wing, as Remus picked up the small and light boy.

“He’s so light.” Remus muttered under his breath.

As they entered the hospital, Madam Pomfrey came running from where she was standing.

“What happened to the boy?” she asked in a concerned tone.

“He passed out.” Remus said putting Harry on the bed carefully.

Madam Pomfrey nodded and pointed her wand at Harry. As she swished and waved her wand a deep frown appeared on her face.

“Are you sure that he had only passed out; and didn’t have a fight before?” she asked.

“Um, yes actually, he did have a...fight with some other boys the day before.” Remus said having a careful look at Poppy.

She had a tensed expression on her face. She reached for Harry’s jumper. As she pulled it off, she winced. “What are these scars? Who beat him like this?” she asked agitated. She proceeded to his shirt.

As soon as she pulled off the shirt, her hand shot to her open mouth. Remus, James, Sirius and Peter took a sharp breath in. Harry’s whole body was covered with both healed and unhealed gashes and dark violet bruises.

Remus, who was the nearest turned his hand to see the scars a bit closely. He could make out the words; ‘freak’, ‘whore’ and burden’ cut into his skin.

“James...” Remus breathed out. His eyes were wide with shock, as he pointed out the scars.

James neared the hand Remus was holding and had a close look. His expression changed and copied Remus’s.

“He was raped!” he breathed out.

“Yes; and not once or twice; he has been raped countless number of times. And I’m afraid that it has started from the very age of five or six.” Madam Pomfrey said. Her face held a disgusted expression, as though inwardly cursing the people who had done this to the poor boy.

“He’s also got some recent bruises which I suppose are from the fight he had the day before. But he’s got too many internal injuries to be able to take anymore beating. So, will you guys be kind enough to look after him? Or I’m afraid he may die.” She said looking at her feet.

“Who did all these...?” Remus trailed off as he continued tracing the scars on his body.

Sirius and Peter had rounded up on the other side when Madam Pomfrey had gone in to take the potions for Harry.

Sirius hesitantly reached out a hand and touched a healing gash on his stomach.

“The people in the orphanage...may have...” Sirius trailed off uncertainly.

“But why would the boys...wait a minute—is it a muggle orphanage?” Remus asked frowning.

“It may be. Muggles often hate magic and torture the person with magic. I have heard them calling the witch or the wizard something around—“Sirius started as he traced the scars on Harry’s other hand. He winced as he found the words which he was going to say engraved on his hand.

“Are they even human?” James asked with a sneer.

Harry sat in his cupboard on the small bed that was the only furniture he had. He was yet again locked up in the cupboard; without any food or water. His throat was feeling like a piece of sand paper. He gulped at the dry patch on his throat to dampen it. Suddenly, he heard the lock of the door click open. He immediately backed away a few inches in his bed. He saw the large shadow of a man enter the small space of the cupboard, followed by the actual man.

“What are you doing ya freak?” The man named Vernon sneered barring his teeth.

“N-nothing, Uncle Vernon; I was just s-sitting.” Harry replied leaning a bit backward.

“Just sitting?” he sneered grabbing the back of Harry’s neck. “What did I tell you to do, eh?” he asked tightening the grip at his neck.

“W-what Uncle Vernon,” Harry stuttered.

“I told you to have a control over your freakishness!” Vernon snapped. He left the back of Harry’s neck and slapped hard on his face.

“Your face reminds me of the good for nothing man your mother married. He too was a freak like you.” He said before slamming Harry’s head on the head of the bed. He winced in pain, as a lump formed at the back of his head.

“Look, I have brought a gift for you.” Vernon said smirking.

Harry looked up, knowing full well the meaning of his ‘gift’. He paled even more, when he saw a fruit knife in his hand.

“U-Uncle Vernon—I won’t do magic anymore—please don’t do this.” Harry pleaded.

Vernon’s face turned purple upon hearing the word ‘magic’ from Harry’s mouth. “You freak, I’ve warned you before about not using that word in this house!” he bellowed. “How dare you use that word?” he shouted.

He grabbed Harry’s thin hand with his large pig-like hand and started cutting into his skin, drawing blood. Harry screamed at the top of his voice as he continued to drag the knife through his soft skin. After over five minutes, he stopped to admire his work. Without a word, he grabbed a leg of Harry and began to draw random lines on his thigh.

Harry’s screams echoed the small of the cupboard. The whole bed shook as he continuously slammed the mattress of the bed with his fist.

“Uncle Vernon, please stop, I won’t—“he started but was cut off with another pull of the knife on his skin. “I won’t do magic!” he screamed at the top most potential of his lungs. He thrashed at the bed in pain.

“Uncle please stop cutting—my skin...” he pleaded, but the pain didn’t stop. But he felt someone shake him by his shoulder.

“Potter...” he heard. But he didn’t respond as the pain was eating on him. He kept screaming and begging to the whale like man who kept on slicing his skin.

“Potter,” he felt someone call his name again and shake him.

“Potter, wake up!” James said shaking him again. They have to stay a few inches away from him as he was thrashing like a fish out of water.  
His screams were now ringing in their ears now.

“Potter, wake up!” Remus gave a good tug to his hand and the boy jolted back from him a good few centimetres. His eyes were opened wide with fear and he was clutching his thigh. He looked around him.


	5. Revelations

"What are you all—"he started but stopped as soon as he realized that he in the hospital. He eyes snapped to his body and he gasped when he noticed there was no shirt on his body.

He pulled at the cover and put it over his shoulder. "How did I come here? And where's my shirt?" he snapped.

"Potter, you fainted." Remus said. "Poppy had to heal you, so she had to take your shirt off." He explained glancing at others.

Harry's eyes grew wider. "Heal? What do you mean by heal! I told you yesterday that I was fine!" he snapped.

"Potter, we just tried to help you. We promise we won't tell anybody about this." Sirius said calmly.

"No, Padfoot, you don't understand. I don't need anybody's help! I didn't want everybody to know that I was beaten up by a bunch of students..." he trailed off unaware that he had just used the name 'Padfoot'.

"You were not only beaten up by a bunch of students. You were abused—"Remus started.

"No!" Harry shouted again. "Shut up, Moony. Shut up!" Harry repeated. Harry got up abruptly.

He looked at his visitors with fearful eyes and then ran off.

James, Sirius, Remus and Peter looked at each other with meaningful eyes.

"He knows our names." James stated.

"Yes, and he was calling us as though he's been doing it for years. He didn't even have to think, it came to him instinctually." Remus said with a confused expression.

"Something is up with the guy. He seems to know us quite well; especially Remus and me." Sirius said in a serious tone.

Harry ran and ran until he reached the Quidditch Pitch. He was exhausted. Everything was crashing on him like tons of bricks. He didn't know for how long he will be able to control himself before breaking down completely. He couldn't control it anymore, he broke down crying. He let out an anguished cry for all the injustices in his life that he has been dealing since time he couldn't even remember. He was again reminded harshly of all his so called 'Best Friends' and their betrayal, the moment where he saw Sirius falling through the veil, all the people he truly loved him were used against him or used him. He couldn't let that happen again. He has to fight this war alone.

"I can't go and make friends, I have to stay away from them or I will lose them again."Harry muttered to himself. I better get down to my business, enough of loitering around." Harry muttered and got up he staggered to the end of the Forbidden Forest and changed. His animagus form was a snow-white Eagle with jet black strips along the tip of his wings. He spread out his wings and flew towards Hogsmead. When he reached the outskirts, he entered the shrieking shack and changed and then, from there, he apparated outside the shack.

The shack was in a wrecked state. The walls have worn out, every window have fallen out. The door was unhinged and only standing with a small support. The forest outside was covering the shack such that it is impossible to plot the house if you actually don't know that the place exists. Harry stood there for several minutes trying to assess the fact that such a reputed family was reduced to a mere beggar like state. He entered the house slowly and carefully, touching each place with his wand and nothing with his bare hand. There were only two rooms in the house and a big hall in the middle. He looked around carefully. He saw that there was a table at the corner of the hall. Harry approached the table. He saw that there were lots of paper and artefacts lying on the table.

"Why will there be artefacts lying on the table of a broken shack?"

He started going through each thing carefully. There were lots of valuable items which were of high importance in the wizarding history. Harry was fascinated by them. Momentarily he forgot what he actually came to find here. Suddenly something shining caught his eyes. He looked closely at the object and was overjoyed to find the Gaunt's ring lying there. He went to reach out for it but thought better of it. He touched it with his wand instead. As soon as the wand touched the ring, his wand flew out of his hand with a sudden extensive jerk. The sudden backward force caused his hand to move in an awkward angle causing his shoulder to sprain quite painfully. Harry was startled by the sudden incident and pain at the same time. He had to take a few minutes to gain his bearings back. He looked around after retrieving his wand from the floor. Harry noticed a piece of cloth lying in the corner. After thinking for some more minutes, he went and picked up the cloth from the ground. With the help of the cloth he reached out for the ring tentatively. When nothing happened, he carefully wrapped the cloth around the ring, being careful as to not touch it with bare skin. After wrapping he pocketed it and after looking around a few more times he apparated away from there.

The days were back to normal. One would think that it was a good thing, but for Harry, normal had a different definition as always. The bullying had reached another level. Days would come, where he could not enter the dorm; and had to sleep in the common room. The marauders had tried approaching him, but whenever he saw even one of the group, he would turn around in the opposite direction and walk away before they could even call his name. On the other hand, he was constantly planning on how to destroy the ring. There were three ways of destroying it; the Gryffindor sword, basilisk fang or fiendfyre. Harry was planning on retrieving the sword from Dumbledore's office; as it was the most convenient way among all the three. It was a good thing that he still had the Marauder's map with him. With so many thoughts in his mind, he was approaching for the third class of the day. Suddenly an ear piercing shout alerted him. He looked up to determine the place of the commotion. He saw that some of the sixth year students were standing at the edge of the forbidden forest; probably for their Care of the Magical creature classes. Curious about the happening, he ran towards the forest. When he reached there, he saw a large snake barring it's fang at the student. Pushing through the students, he neared the snake.

"What are doing? Do you have a death wish?" one of the students shouted at him. Harry didn't pay attention to the girl.

He rounded the snake. "Get back to the forest; right now. Leave the students alone." He hissed in parseltongue.

He heard gasps from the crowd. But he couldn't care less. He saw the snake lower its fangs and sway a bit, as though surprised to hear a human talking to it.

"I said get back to where you have come from." Harry hissed again. This time the snake got down to the ground and started slithering away into the forest.

He stood there and saw the snake disappear into the forest. As he turned to leave, he was met with gaping faces and surprised looks. He blinked a few times at them.

"Excuse me," he said in order to bring them back to the world.

"How did you do that?" a blonde boy came out of the crowd.

Harry rolled his eyes at the stupid question. He frowned at Lucius and folded his hands in a professional way. "Well, I was taking lessons from Dark Lord, on how to speak Parseltongue. He's a great teacher you know. You too can join the classes if you want." Harry said sarcastically.

Lucius didn't pay a heed to his sarcasm. He was looking at him in an utter impressed way. "You are a parseltongue!" he said in a dreamy voice.

Harry made a face at that. "Malfoy, you are sounding like a fan girl. Now will you all please excuse me, I have classes to attend." Harry said pushing though the crowd to make his way.

He walked away with a thought that this event is either going to put him into more trouble or it will do him some good in future.

"James, I don't think, he's ever going to talk with us. He's afraid about something being revealed." Sirius said in a serious tone.

James nodded. "He clearly didn't want us—or anyone at that, to know about his abuse. I think he's embarrassed or something." He said.

"But—who the hell tortures somebody like that, for doing magic?" Remus growled.

"People with those thoughts that being different are a crime do that." Sirius said.

"We won't know what it's like, because we didn't grow up with muggles." James said shaking his head. "He's gone though a lot. No wonder he tries to stop us whenever we get hold of Snivellus."

"I think we should leave Snape alone for few months. Maybe that'll make him a bit...wary." Peter suggested.

James and Sirius nodded in agreement. "But I still don't understand why he has that special grudge on you." Sirius said sniggering.

Peter rolled his eyes. "As far as my memory goes, I didn't do anything to him."

They just shrugged and peered at Harry, sitting at the Slytherin Table poking his food.

Harry on the other hand was thinking about the ring. He still had to find the locket. He had to visit the cave. That must be where he'll get the next Horcrux. He had decided that he would take out the Gryffindor sword, after finding the locket.

"Does he even eat?" Sirius commented from the Gryffindor Table.

"Sirius, you are staring." James deadpanned.

"Oh, sorry..." he muttered and looked back to his plate.

"There he goes again." Remus said sighing as he saw Harry get up and leave the hall.

"Must be going to the library again," Peter said shrugging.

James's eyes lit up at the comment. "Guys, let's corner him in the library. Nobody's going to be there right now." He said.

"Right, let's go." Sirius said standing up.

"You guys go without me. I'm not going to face his sneers again." Peter said sighing.

Harry walked into the library and went straight to the rack where the files of the Daily Prophets were kept. He pulled out a few files from the bottom and went to a table to start his research. As he sat on the table flipping through the pages of the files, his mind trailed off to the events to the Ministry of Magic. Tears started pricking his eyes.

The Marauders minus Peter walked into the library as quietly as possible under their invisibility cloak. As they came closer to Harry, they heard a sniffing sound.

"...how I wish I could go to the vacation with Padfoot and Moony. And now not only Padfoot and Moony, Prongs could also be a part of my life...only if I was a normal boy with a normal life...and only if this stupid scar wasn't on my forehead..." Harry trailed off.

They frowned in confusion and scooted closer to him. They could see his tear stained face in the candle light.

Harry wiped away a stay tear from his cheek. "Voldemort ruined my whole fucking life." He growled and banged the table with his fist. He sighed and tried to concentrate on the papers opened in front of him. But it was all in vain. He slammed the files shut and got up from the chair. He waved his wand and the whole lot of files flew up and went to the rack arranging itself in it. They watched in shock as Harry stomped away from the library.

"What the hell was that about?" James said pulling off the cloak off them.

"No—bloody—idea," Sirius said. "When the hell did I agree on going on a vacation with him?" he said tilting his head.

"It's not about the vacation, idiots!" Remus snapped. "After hearing everything he said, you picked up the word vacation?" he said incredulously.

"Then you tell us—what did he mean?" James said crossing his arms across his chest.

"Did you even hear what he said after the vacation thing?" Remus asked. "He clearly said that Voldemort has destroyed his life. Now the question is how his abuse is related to Voldemort." Remus said.

Sirius frowned as though trying to make up a connection between the two things. "This doesn't make any sense. Why would Voldemort sexually abuse him." he said making a face.

Remus looked at him as though he had grown three heads. "Sirius, please don't do this to me. Please don't try to rape my brain." Remus said in a pleading tone.

James burst out laughing. "Really Sirius; I sometimes think who gave you this name-Sirius." James said between his laughs.

"Shut up; don't act as if you are some descendant of Merlin." Sirius said huffing.

"Keep your useless mouth shut and let me think!" Remus said.

James sighed. "Remus, let's go to the common room. I don't want McGonagall to find us here at this time." He said.

As Harry entered the Slytherin common room, every eye fell on him. He looked around to see everybody was gaping at him just like in the morning. He blinked at them a few times.

"Hypocrites," he muttered under his breath and went straight to his dorm.

Severus was sitting and reading a book. He looked up, when he heard the dorm room open. He eyed the boy confusingly.

Harry's mind was filled with the thought of Moony and Padfoot. He didn't notice the boy sitting over there. Reaching his trunk he pulled out his pyjama pants and started pulling off his layers. As he pulled off his shirt, Severus looked up from his book to see the horrifying scene in front of his eyes. His mouth hung open as he watched the scarred and wrecked body in front of him.

Severus was reminded of the days of abuse he had to go through with his father. His breathing became heavy as the images floated in front of his eyes. Silently he pulled the curtains down of his bed, so that Harry couldn't see him.

Harry, oblivious to the exposure, went to bed, still thinking about the days he had spent with his godfather and Moony. He lay in his bed imagining about the vacation they had planned to go on after the term break. A slight smile appeared on his face as he fell into the darkness of sleep.


End file.
